page_title: Château des Ducs de La Trémoille
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Château des Ducs de La Trémoille / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Chapelle du Château des ducs de La Trémoille, Thouars
context_page_description: The Château des Ducs de La Trémoille is located in Thouars in the Deux-Sèvres département of France and was built in the 17th century. It is located on a strategic defense point -a promontory above the Thouet river- and consists of the main building, an inner court, an orangery, a chapel and a stable.
context_section_description: The first known reference to the city of Thouars is dated 762, in a document describing how a fortress was taken and then razed to the ground by Pepin the Short. Later reconstructed -it is regularly mentioned from the 10th century- the castle was again partially destroyed in 1158 by Henry II of England coveting the lands of Thouars's viscounty which would be an important stronghold during the Hundred Years' War. A surrounding wall itself included in the city wall was added to the dungeon at the end of the 12th century. Unfortunately no pictures of the different castles from this period are available.
  After belonging to the House of Amboise, then being annexed to the royal domain by Louis XI of France, the viscounty was given to the house of La Trémoille in 1489 that were made dukes later by Charles IX of France. Gabrielle de Bourbon, wife of Louis II de La Trémoille ordered the construction of the chapel built between 1503 and 1509 which is still visible today. The chapel is of flamboyant gothic style for the lower part and influenced by Italian Renaissance for the upper gallery and was designed by several architects including André Amy and Jean Chahureau. It was designated as a collegiate church in 1515 by the Pope Leo X and hosted a relic of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
  	In 1619, Henri de La Trémoille married Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne and in the year 1628 the duchess and her intendent the sieur d'Iray oversaw the construction of a small pavilion. She then proceeded to order the building of the South pavilion for her apartments in the year 1635 and decided later to build a newer, more luxurious castle in place of the old one. The project was entrusted to Jacques Lemercier, an architect of King Louis XIII of France and famous for his work on the Château de Richelieu, Versailles, the Louvre and the Chapel of la Sorbonne in Paris. The construction began in 1638. At the time it was one of the most important castles in France with its 110-meter long façade and its main courtyard (Cour d'honneur) surrounded by 70-metre long galleries. The south side contained the gardens and the orangery, outbuildings and an unfinished stable later complemented the site. Attracted by being at the court of Louis XIV of France, the members of the House of La Tremoille later neglected the castle in favour of their Parisian residency.
  	During the French Revolution, the castle and the chapel were plundered and more than 40 paintings and the marble tombs in the chapel were destroyed. The trees from the orangery and the content of the library were burnt to provide warmth for the soldiers. It became national property and then siege of the sous-préfecture in 1797. It was offered to Vaubois by Napoleon in 1803, then to Masséna in 1809 both refused because of the restoration and maintenance costs. The city of Thouars bought the site from the state in 1833 to use it as a barracks until 1849. It then was used as a private college -College Saint-Louis- by priest until 1869. The chapel was bought back by the family of La Tremoille in 1873. The castle was transformed to a prison and used for this purpose from 1872 to 1925, accommodating up to 1 200 prisoners during World War I. The city of Thouars then decided to make it a public school in the year 1933 and from 1979 to today it is a middle-school named Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne. It remained under restoration from 1987.
caption: Chapel of Thouars castle
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